Amanda Todd case: Dutch man can be extradited to Canada

Amsterdam
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A Dutch court has ruled a 38-year-old man who is facing charges in Canada in the cyberbullying of 15-year-old Amanda Todd that led to her suicide can be extradited to Canada to face charges laid by the RCMP.

Yesterday, an Amsterdam court has ruled Aydin Coban can be extradited to Canada to face charges relating to Todd. But the 38-year-old won't be crossing the Atlantic anytime soon. Coban must first face trial for charges laid in the Netherlands before he can be extradited.

Coban, who has been in custody for two years, faces 72 child pornography and extortion charges involving 39 people in the Netherlands. His trial has been delayed because he changed lawyers and his new lawyer needed more time to prepare.

CBC reports Coban lost a bid to have the charges pertaining to Todd tried in the Netherlands where some of the alleged victims are from other countries. Coban's lawyer, Robert Malewicz, said he believes the decision was based on public opinion in Canada and how Canadians were impacted by the teen's death.

As Digital Journal previously reported, Todd, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student, took her own life in her Port Coquitlam, B.C. home on Oct. 10, 2012. Five weeks before her death she uploaded a video on YouTube entitled, "Amanda Todd: Bullying, Suicide, Self harm." She does not speak in the video but holds up a series of signs with printing on them explaining how she flashed her breasts on a webcam and was then extorted. She was shunned and assaulted at school after what she had done had become known and the teen began using alcohol, drugs, and resorted to cutting herself.

After Todd's death, her video went viral and what she endured made news around the world. YouTube offered to remove the video but the teen's mother, Carol Todd, wanted it to remain to educate people about cyberbullying. In Canada, the young teen's death sparked a discussion of cyberbullying that led to new anti-bullying laws being enacted. Since 2015, it is a crime in Canada to distribute sexually explicit photos or videos of a person without that person's consent.

The RCMP commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 15-year-old's death. In April 2014, they announced five charges had been laid against a citizen of the Netherlands. Coban was charged in Canada with extortion, Internet luring, criminal harassment, possession of child pornography and possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute. It is these charges that formed the basis of the extradition request.

Carol Todd said she is staying away from the case in the Netherlands because she wants the focus to be on those alleged victims and not on her daughter. But she said everyone been waiting years and years for this and she wants Coban to know how this impacted her family and other families around the world.

It is anticipated a verdict in the Netherlands will not come before April, 2017. It will likely be more than year before Coban is brought to Canada for trial.